Muir Award Recipients

Sammy Raucher

Class of 2023
2023 John Gardner Fellowship
2023 William K. (Sandy) Muir, Jr. Leadership Award

Sammy Raucher, a Los Angeles native, is passionate about LGBTQ+ rights law and policy, as well as the intersections between social issues and data technologies. At UC Berkeley, she majored in political science and minored in data science. She hopes to devote her leadership and sociotechnical skills to a career defending and expanding civil rights for marginalized communities, especially the LGBTQ+ community, in her home state of California and the greater United States. She is also a member of Phi Beta Kappa ...

Daniel A. Tuchler

2014 William K. (Sandy) Muir, Jr. Leadership Award Recipient

Daniel Tuchler graduated Magna Cum Laude with High Honors in May, 2014, with plans on pursuing work as a political consultant. At Cal he served in several campus leadership positions including President of the Cal Berkeley Democrats. He was also on the Strategic Planning Committee of the Public Service Center. Daniel worked for several Bay Area political consulting firms and on various candidate and issue political races, including leading a voter contact effort in Nevada during the 2012 presidential election cycle. He spent one summer working for the US...

Shelby H. Nacino

2014 William K. (Sandy) Muir, Jr. Leadership Award Recipient

Shelby Nacino graduated Summa Cum Laude with Highest Honors from the Political Science Department in May, 2014. After graduation she worked as a staffer for a local school board campaign and as a researcher for faculty in the Political Science department. Shelby started Berkeley Law in August and currently volunteers with the Tenants Rights Workshop. She is also involved in the Berkeley Technology Law Journal. While she was a student, Shelby served in several campus leadership positions: Vice President of the Resident Hall Assembly, a campus tour guide...

Brandon M. Wong

2015 William K. (Sandy) Muir, Jr. Leadership Award Recipient

Brandon M. Wong graduated Summa Cum Laude from the Political Science Department in May, 2015. At Cal Brandon spent the spring 2015 semester at the UC Washington Center, where he interned at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) as a 2015 Matsui Center Washington Fellow. After graduation he interned in State Senator John Moorlach's office doing everything from meeting with interest group representatives and constituents to writing position letters to concerned voters. Says Brandon, "It was interesting to witness a politician and his staff gain their footing and...

Sandra Farzam

2015 William K. (Sandy) Muir, Jr. Leadership Award Recipient

Sandra Farzam graduated Summa Cum Laude with Highest Honors from the Political Science department in May, 2015. She is currently in law school at the USC Gould School of Law. While at Cal, Sandra served in campus leadership positions with the Berkeley chapter of the Model United Nations and founded a new campus club, called Peace Talks, which serves as a debating society for students to find common ground on national and international affairs. She worked for several professors in the Berkeley Law School as a research assistant investigating employment...

Madison Chapman

2016 William K. (Sandy) Muir, Jr. Leadership Award Recipient

Madison Chapman is a fourth year Political Science major and Public Policy minor at the University of California, Berkeley, with a concentration in International Relations. Originally from a small suburb just outside of San Diego, California, Madison was inspired to work on immigrant rights and get involved in public service after witnessing injustices in her hometown. At Berkeley, Madison has pursued her academic and public service passions in order to make a difference for immigrants, women, victims of abuse, and public health.

On campus she has been honored to serve as Co-...

Alex Mabanta

2016 William K. (Sandy) Muir, Jr. Leadership Award Recipient

Alex Mabanta is a double major in Political Science and Rhetoric and minor in Human Rights from Saratoga, California. With a huge passion for Berkeley, both the university and the city, he splits his time between class and City Hall on a mission to "bring human rights home."

At age nineteen Alex was appointed to the Peace and Justice Commission, a legislative body charged with crafting human rights ordinances for the city of Berkeley. As the youngest commissioner in the city’s history, together with law professors and disability stakeholders he crafted a law to enable Berkeley to...

Eric Yang

2017 William K. (Sandy) Muir, Jr. Leadership Award Recipient

Eric Yang ('17) is a senior at UC Berkeley studying Political Science. He is originally from Vancouver, Canada and is attending law school next year. He is passionate about using legal means to make a positive impact in his community. Eric believes it is very important for the legal system to be fair to everyone and wants to ensure the underprivileged have an equal voice within the system.

On campus, he was a caseworker for the Associated Students of the University of California Student Legal Clinic. As a caseworker, Eric did legal research for clients that needed help on a range of...

Hunayn Anwar

2023 William K. (Sandy) Muir, Jr. Leadership Award Recipient

Hunayn Anwar was born and raised in Southeastern Minnesota. She is double majoring in Political Science, with an emphasis in Comparative Politics, and Arabic.

At Cal, she has been heavily involved in leading faith-based and cultural organizations. She served as president of the Association for Muslim Professional Development (AMPD). In this role, she organized workshops to help Muslim students learn skills such as resume writing, interview performance, and personal finance management. She also created mentorship and cohort programs that...

Grayson Dimick

2017 William K. (Sandy) Muir, Jr. Leadership Award Recipient

Grayson Dimick ('17) is a double major in Political Science and History, with a minor in Public Policy, from Sebastopol, California. Grayson is passionate about fostering dialogue, increasing access to affordable health care, and expanding opportunities for women and children, and has immersed herself in academic and public service opportunities surrounding these issues during her time at Berkeley.

On campus, Grayson serves as the president of UC Berkeley Model United Nations. In this role, she trains 110 students from 24 nationalities and 38 majors in public speaking and...